Green Software Applications

ABSTRACT

Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing green software applications and/or certifying software applications with a green applications efficiency (“GAE”) rating. Implementing green software applications might include performing performance tests of a software application, measuring power consumption of one or more hardware components, in response to execution of the software application during the one or more performance tests, generating a power consumption profile for the software application based on the measure power consumption, and tuning the software application such that power consumption of the one or more hardware components matches a power load caused by execution of the software application, based at least in part on the power consumption profile for the software application. Certifying software applications might include calculating an efficiency rating based on measured or calculated hardware power consumption, calculating the GAE rating for the software application, and certifying the software application with the GAE rating.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/666,594 (the “'594 application”), filed Mar. 24, 2015 by VishakShanmugam Pillai et al. (attorney docket no. 020370-011210US), entitled,“Green Software Applications,” which is a divisional of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/937,379 (the“'379 application”) (now U.S. Pat.No. 9,021,439), filed Jul. 9, 2013, by Vishak Shanmugam Pillai et al.(attorney docket no. 020370-011200US), entitled, “Green SoftwareApplications,” which claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No.61/815,940 (the “'940 application”), filed Apr. 25, 2013, by VishakShanmugam Pillai et al. (attorney docket no. 020370-011201US), entitled,“Green Software Applications,” the entire disclosure of each of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to methods, apparatus, andcomputer software for certifying and/or implementing green softwareapplications.

BACKGROUND

Software applications ranging from hand-held device-based,desktop-based, and Enterprise-based software applications have evolvedin complexity. As the complexity of software increases, so does thedemand for more powerful hardware components. As a result, energyconsumption has gone to very high levels. For example, Enterpriseapplications typically comprise different interdependent and complexsoftware applications deployed over multiple servers. In most cases,services might be published and consumed across enterprises.Consequently, energy consumption due to execution of Enterpriseapplications has increased to very large scale. As a result of thisincrease in energy consumption, organizations are spending huge amountsof money on energy costs and software applications leave a big carbonfoot print. Determining discrete energy consumption of an individualapplication has become a big challenge and, consequently, optimizing anapplication to reduce its energy consumption has become an equally bigchallenge as well.

In the case of hand held devices, laptop computers, and tabletcomputers, or the like, applications, if not properly designed or tunedto conserve energy, will tend to drain the battery quickly. Thick Clientapplications, standalone desktop applications, and applications, whichcan be installed in hand held devices, personal computers, or the like,can also cause excessive power consumption if not properly tuned ordesigned. Hardware components are the primary energy consumers, but theenergy consumption is driven by the software application(s) using thesecomponents.

Leading energy management applications in the industry include, forexample, applications developed by Intel Corp. based on research onSoftware Power Estimation and Optimization, applications developed byCisco as documented by Cisco's Review and Results of Network EnergyEfficiency, IBM's Tivoli Monitor, PRELYTIS, and applications based onIMB's research on Green Applications: software applications thatoptimize energy usage. Most of these conventional solutions focus onhardware level energy monitoring, operating system tweaking, or the liketo optimize energy consumption. These solutions, however, do not addressthe following areas to reduce carbon footprint by a single softwareapplication: (1) Software application level energy profiling across adesigned work load across various phases; (2) Identification ofintensive energy consumption areas by software application due tospecific hardware utilization (like RAM, CPU, Hard disk, etc.); (3)Creating an Energy Consumption Model by the software application; (4)Developing a method to determine software application efficiency acrossdifferent load conditions and rating method; and/or (5) ApplicationTuning, Capacity Planning, accurate hardware matching, etc., from thesoftware application perspective; or the like.

The embodiments disclosed herein are directed toward overcoming one ormore of the problems discussed above.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various embodiments provide techniques for implementing green softwareapplications and/or certifying software applications with a greenapplications efficiency (“GAE”) rating.

In some instances, to implement green software applications, performancemeasurements of the software application under evaluation must first beobtained. After all, what can't be measured can't be controlled. Thismight include measuring power consumption of hardware components, suchas, but not limited to, the central processing unit (“CPU”), the harddisk, the memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (“RAM”)), the networkdevice, the graphics processors, or the like. A power consumptionprofile for the software application, based on the measured powerconsumption, can then be generated, and based on this profile, thesoftware application can be tuned to achieve improved power efficiency,or a match between the computation output or load imposed on thesoftware application and the power consumption of the hardwarecomponents as a result of execution of the software application.

Implementing green software applications, in various embodiments, mightinclude categorizing the software application based in part or in wholeon measured or calculated power consumption of the hardware components.The GAE rating for the software application can be calculated as aresult. Based on the category, the subject software application may befurther evaluated using a root cause analysis to determine underlyingcauses of the power inefficiencies. With the results from the root causeanalysis, solution approaches may be determined to minimize or eliminatethe power inefficiency in the software application. A user can then beprovided with a summary of the problem associated with the evaluatedsoftware application, along with solution approaches that the user cantake to tune the software application to achieve improved GAE Rating (orpower efficiency). GAE Rating for a software application may be providedwith the hardware details and operating platform details against whichthe certification was done.

To determine whether or not to implement the processes discussed abovefor achieving green software applications, one must first determine whatthe power efficiencies are for the subject software applications. Tothat end, various techniques are provided for certifying softwareapplications with a GAE rating, which may be used to label softwareapplications according to levels of power efficiency. For thecertification process, effective power consumption and effectivecomputational work performed by the hardware components might first becalculated for each load phase in the operational cycle of the softwareapplication. These load phases might be part of the pre-designedworkload model which may be based on historical real time loadconditions or as specified by the end user of the software application.Based on these calculated values, the efficiency rating for the softwareapplication for each load phase may be calculated, and the softwareapplication can, in some instances, be categorized into appropriateefficiency categories.

An overall GAE rating might be calculated for the evaluated softwareapplication based on the efficiency categories in which it has beencategorized and/or based on its calculated efficiency rating. Thesoftware application can then be certified with the calculated GAErating, which might be in the form of a percentage efficiency value, aquadrant designation (e.g., a color designation, an alphanumericdesignation, a numeric designation, an alphabetical designation, or thelike), an appropriate efficiency notation, or a combination thereof.Certification might be based on the operating environment, which mightcomprise the operating system and hardware, hosting the subject softwareapplication.

Cost Savings by reducing energy consumption can be achieved if one ormore of the following approaches are implemented: (1) Accuratelymeasuring discrete energy consumption by individual application andcarbon footprint across different phases of application work load andefficiency calculation; (2) Identifying areas of high energy consumptiondue to excessive hardware component utilization (including, withoutlimitation, CPU, RAM, DISK, NETWORK, etc.), and implementing appropriatehardware sizing and cost saving measures. These measures might include,but are not limited to: (a) Tuning of software applications for optimumutilization of resources; (b) Implementing appropriate hardwarematching; (c) Utilizing “Homogeneous Application Cultivation”techniques; or the like. By implementing one or more of theseapproaches, the carbon footprint of a particular software applicationmay be reduced, and thereby enabling Green Software Applications. Theidea is to optimize the way hardware utilization is done by softwareapplications.

The tools provided by various embodiments include, without limitation,methods, systems, and/or software products. Merely by way of example, amethod might comprise one or more procedures, any or all of which mightbe executed by a computer system. Correspondingly, an embodiment mightprovide a computer system configured with instructions to perform one ormore procedures in accordance with methods provided by various otherembodiments. Similarly, a computer program might comprise a set ofinstructions that are executable by a computer system, or by a processorlocated in the computer system, to perform such operations. In manycases, such software programs are encoded on physical, tangible, and/ornon-transitory computer readable media. Such computer readable mediamight include, to name but a few examples, optical media, magneticmedia, and the like.

In an aspect, a method might be provided for certifying softwareapplications with a green applications efficiency (“GAE”) rating. Themethod might comprise calculating, with a computer, effective powerconsumption and effective computational work performed by one or morehardware components, in each load phase of a plurality of load phases,in response to execution of a software application, as measured by oneor more measurement tools in communication with the computer. Thiscertification might be performed for a particular operating platformwhich might comprise at least one of the one or more hardware componentsand an operating system, both of which might be used to host the subjectapplication. The plurality of load phases might comprise an initiationphase, a low load phase, an efficient load phase, a maximum load phase,an idle load phase, and a pre-stop/stop phase. The method might furthercomprise calculating, with the computer, an efficiency rating for thesoftware application, for each load phase, based on the calculatedeffective power consumption and the calculated effective computationalwork performed for the software application, for each load phase, andcategorizing, with the computer, the software application into one offour efficiency quadrants, based on computational output (or load) andpower consumption of the software application, and based on thecalculated efficiency rating for the software application. Theefficiency quadrants might comprise a high output-low power quadrant, ahigh output-high power quadrant, a low output-low power quadrant, and alow output-high power quadrant

The method might further comprise calculating, with the computer, anoverall green applications efficiency (“GAE”) rating for the softwareapplication, based on the categorizing of the software application intoone of the four efficiency quadrants, and based on the calculatedefficiency rating for the software application. The method might alsocomprise certifying, with the computer, the software application withthe calculated GAE rating.

In some embodiments, the software application might comprise one of amobile software application, a tablet computer software application, astandalone desktop software application, an enterprise softwareapplication, or a software application deployed in a virtualizedenvironment

In some instances, calculating the effective power consumption and theeffective computational work performed by one or more hardwarecomponents, in each load phase, in response to execution of the softwareapplication might comprise calculating a Justified Software Output andSoftware Energy Efficiency, which might comprise factoring a dragcoefficient associated with each hardware component affected during eachload phase, calculating an impact cost factor for each drag coefficient,and calculating the Justified Software Output based on the factored dragcoefficient associated with each hardware component affected during eachload phase and the calculated impact cost factor for each dragcoefficient.

In other cases, calculating the effective power consumption and theeffective computational work performed by one or more hardwarecomponents, in each load phase, in response to execution of the softwareapplication might comprise calculating a Computational Work Done andSoftware Energy Efficiency, which might comprise calculating acomputational force applied, a computational throughput, andcomputational memory utilization, and calculating the Computational WorkDone based on the calculated computational force applied, computationalthroughput, and computational memory utilization over a predeterminedperiod.

In another aspect, a method might be provided for implementing greensoftware applications. The method might comprise monitoring, with acomputer, hardware utilization for each of a plurality of hardware, inresponse to execution of a software application across varying loadconditions, as measured by one or more measurement tools incommunication with the computer. The plurality of hardware mightcomprise one or more central processing units (“CPUs”), one or morememory devices, one or more disk input/output (“I/O”) devices, one ormore network devices, and one or more graphics processors. The methodmight further comprise categorizing, with the computer, the softwareapplication as one of a CPU intensive application, a memory intensiveapplication, a disk I/O intensive application, network intensiveapplication, a graphics intensive application, or a combination of oneor more of these categories (“combination intensive application”), basedat least in part on results of the monitoring of the hardware load foreach of the plurality of hardware, in response to execution of thesoftware application

The method might further comprise, based on said categorizing,performing, with the computer, a root cause analysis for inefficiencyfor the software application, and, based on the root cause analysis,determining, with the computer, one or more solution approaches forminimizing or eliminating inefficiency for the software application. Themethod might also comprise sending, with the computer, the one or moresolution approaches to one or more user devices for displaying, on theone or more user devices, recommendations for minimizing or eliminatinginefficiency for the software application. In some instances, therecommendations for minimizing or eliminating inefficiency for thesoftware application might be displayed in conjunction with theoperating system and hardware used to host the software application.

In yet another aspect, an apparatus might be provided for certifyingsoftware applications with a green applications efficiency (“GAE”)rating. The apparatus might comprise a processor and a non-transitorycomputer readable medium having stored thereon software comprising a setof instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes theapparatus to perform one or more functions. The set of instructionsmight comprise instructions to calculate effective power consumption andeffective computational work performed by one or more hardwarecomponents, in each load phase of a plurality of load phases, inresponse to execution of a software application, as measured by one ormore measurement tools in communication with the apparatus. Theplurality of load phases might comprise an initiation phase, a low loadphase, an efficient load phase, a maximum load phase, an idle loadphase, and a pre-stop/stop phase.

The set of instructions might further comprise instructions to calculatean efficiency rating for the software application, for each load phase,based on the calculated effective power consumption and the calculatedeffective computational work performed for the software application, foreach load phase, and instructions to categorize the software applicationinto one of four efficiency quadrants, based on computational output (orload) and power consumption of the software application, and based onthe calculated efficiency rating for the software application. Theefficiency quadrants might comprise a high output-low power quadrant, ahigh output-high power quadrant, a low output-low power quadrant, and alow output-high power quadrant.

The set of instructions might further comprise instructions to calculatean overall green applications efficiency (“GAE”) rating for the softwareapplication, based on the categorizing of the software application intoone of the four efficiency quadrants, and based on the calculatedefficiency rating for the software application, and instructions tocertify the software application with the calculated GAE rating.

In still another aspect, a method might be provided for implementinggreen software applications. The method might comprise performing, witha computer, one or more performance tests of a software application,evaluating, with the computer, a performance of the software applicationduring the one or more performance tests, and measuring, with thecomputer, power consumption of one or more hardware components, inresponse to execution of the software application during the one or moreperformance tests. The method might further comprise generating, withthe computer, a power consumption profile for the software application,based on the measured power consumption. The method might also comprisetuning the software application, such that power consumption of the oneor more hardware components matches a power load caused by execution ofthe software application, based at least in part on the powerconsumption profile for the software application. In some instances,tuning might be performed automatically by the computer, based at leastin part on the power consumption profile for the software application.In other instances, tuning might be performed manually, based at leastin part on the power consumption profile for the software application.

Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodimentsdiscussed without departing from the scope of the invention. Forexample, while the embodiments described above refer to particularfeatures, the scope of this invention also included embodiments havingdifferent combination of features and embodiments that do not includeall of the above described features.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particularembodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions ofthe specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals areused to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label isassociated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similarcomponents. When reference is made to a reference numeral withoutspecification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to allsuch multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a general schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary systemfor certifying software applications with a green applicationsefficiency (“GAE”) rating or for implementing green softwareapplications, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a general schematic diagram illustrating another exemplarysystem for certifying software applications with a green applicationsefficiency (“GAE”) rating or for implementing green softwareapplications, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating an example graphical representation ofapplication load versus power profile over a 24 hour period for acomputational system executing a software application that is not agreen software application.

FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating an exemplary graphical representationof application load versus power profile over a 24 hour period for acomputational system executing a green software application, inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example graphical representation ofan application power profile for a memory intensive application (“CatM”), prior to green software application implementation, in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example graphical representation ofan application power profile for a CPU intensive application (“Cat C”),prior to green software application implementation, in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 4C is a diagram illustrating an example graphical representation ofan application power profile for a disk I/O intensive application (“CatD”), prior to green software application implementation, in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 4D is a diagram illustrating an example graphical representation ofan application power profile for a network intensive application (“CatN”), prior to green software application implementation, in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a general schematic flow diagram illustrating an exemplarymethod for certifying software applications with a green applicationsefficiency (“GAE”) rating, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a general schematic flow diagram illustrating an exemplarymethod for implementing green software applications, in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a general schematic flow diagram illustrating anotherexemplary method for implementing green software applications, inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIGS. 8A-8B are illustrations of mobile user devices used by users thatpresent exemplary graphical user interfaces for GAE rating certificationof software applications and/or implementation of green softwareapplications, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computerarchitecture, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computers,which can be used in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have beensummarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a fewexemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in theart to practice such embodiments. The described examples are providedfor illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the presentinvention may be practiced without some of these specific details. Inother instances, certain structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form. Several embodiments are described herein, and whilevarious features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should beappreciated that the features described with respect to one embodimentmay be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token,however, no single feature or features of any described embodimentshould be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, asother embodiments of the invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers used herein to expressquantities, dimensions, and so forth used should be understood as beingmodified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, theuse of the singular includes the plural unless specifically statedotherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unlessotherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as wellas other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considerednon-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompassboth elements and components comprising one unit and elements andcomponents that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically statedotherwise.

Various embodiments provide techniques for implementing green softwareapplications and/or certifying software applications with a greenapplications efficiency (“GAE”) rating with respect to the specificoperating environment where the subject application was hosted on. Theoperating environment, in some cases, might comprise the operatingsystem and the hardware platform.

In some instances, to implement green software applications, performancemeasurements of the software application under evaluation must first beobtained. After all, what can't be measured can't be controlled. Theperformance measurements might include an evaluation of the softwareapplication and hardware components during various performance teststhat might be isolated or performed in an active computationalenvironment together with other software applications. In some cases,power consumption of the hardware components—including, but not limitedto, the central processing unit (“CPU”), the hard disk, the memory (orRAM), the network device, the graphics processors, or the like—may bemeasured during the performance tests. A power consumption profile forthe software application, based on the measured power consumption acrossdifferent load phases, can then be generated, and based on this profile,the software application can be tuned to achieve improved powerefficiency. In other words, the software application can be modified soas to achieve a match between the computation output or load imposed bythe software application and the power consumption of the hardwarecomponents as a result of execution of the software application.

The software applications under evaluation can be any type of softwareapplication that is typically executed by a computing device, including,but not limited to, a mobile software application, a tablet computersoftware application, a standalone desktop software application, anenterprise software application, or a software application deployed in avirtualized environment.

Implementing green software applications, in various embodiments, mightinclude categorizing the software application based in part or in wholeon measured or calculated power consumption of the hardware components.The categories might include, but is not limited to, a CPU intensiveapplication, a memory intensive application, a disk I/O intensiveapplication, network intensive application, a graphics intensiveapplication, or a combination of one or more of these categories(“combination intensive application”). Based on the category, thesubject software application may be further evaluated using a root causeanalysis to determine underlying causes of the power inefficiencies.With the results from the root cause analysis, solution approaches maybe determined to minimize or eliminate the power inefficiency in thesoftware application. A user can then be provided with a summary of theproblem associated with the evaluated software application, the GAERating for the software application, the operating system and hardwareplatform details with respect to which the software application wascertified, along with solution approaches that the user can take to tunethe software application to achieve improved power efficiency. In somecases, the user might be given the option to initiate automatedprocesses for performing the tuning of the evaluated softwareapplications.

To determine whether or not to implement the processes discussed abovefor achieving green software applications, one must first determine whatthe power efficiencies are for the subject software applications. Tothat end, various techniques are provided for certifying softwareapplications with a GAE rating, which is used to label softwareapplications according to levels of power efficiency. For thecertification process, effective power consumption and effectivecomputational work performed by the hardware components might first becalculated for each load phase in the operational cycle of the softwareapplication. This might include a daily cycle, a weekly cycle, a monthlycycle, a yearly cycle, or a life cycle of the software application. Theload phases might include, without limitation, an initiation phase, alow load phase, an efficient load phase, a maximum load phase, an idleload phase, and a pre-stop/stop phase in any or all of these operationalcycles.

Based on these calculated values, the efficiency rating for the softwareapplication may be calculated for each load phase, and the softwareapplication can, in some instances, be categorized into appropriateefficiency categories. In some cases, the software applications might beclassified in terms of output/load level versus power consumption levelof affected hardware components. For example, the software applicationsmight be categorized into one of four efficiency quadrants, eachquadrant representing a high or low level of output/load while at thesame time representing a high or low level of power consumption. Themost power efficient software applications might be categorized into thehigh output/low power quadrant, while the least efficient softwareapplications might be categorized into the low output/high powerquadrant, and intermediate efficiency software applications might becategorized into one of the other two quadrants.

An overall GAE rating might be calculated for the evaluated softwareapplication based on the quadrant in which it has been categorizedand/or based on its calculated efficiency rating for each load phase. Insome instances, the overall GAE rating might be a standard average, aweighted average, or some other compiled representation of thecalculated efficiency ratings over all the load phases. The softwareapplication can then be certified with the calculated GAE rating, whichmight be in the form of a percentage efficiency value, a quadrantdesignation (e.g., a color designation, an alphanumeric designation, anumeric designation, an alphabetical designation, or the like), anappropriate efficiency notation, or a combination thereof.

As an overview, green software application performance management may,in many cases, provide significant cost savings by reducing energyconsumption caused by software applications. Such management might helpany information technology (“IT”) team or service providers to measurediscrete energy consumption by each software application acrossrespective workload models as well as areas where energy may be wasted,identify critical areas where improper hardware matching forapplications may be done, perform efficient capacity planning and reducecarbon foot print and energy cost, or the like. The key benefits mayinclude one or more of the following: (1) Precise energy consumption andCarbon foot print calculation for each software application acrossdifferent phases of work load; (2) Determining application efficiencyand GSA Efficiency Rating, and identifying critical areas where energyconsumption is high due to intense hardware utilization (like CPU, RAM,DISK, NETWORK, Etc.); (3) Efficient Capacity Planning; and (4) Creatingsolutions for efficient power governance and reduction of carbon footprint at the application level.

Herein, “non-green software applications” might refer to conventionalsoftware applications that have not been tuned or designed to matchcomputational output with hardware power consumption. As such, thesenon-green software applications might result in consumption of excessivepower (by hardware components including the CPU running these softwareapplications, RAM, disk input/output devices, network devices, graphicsprocessors, and/or the like), due, e.g., to one or more root causes. Theroot causes might include, but are not limited to, latency in resourcerelease, inefficient computational logic, creation of large andlong-lived objects in memory, storage of large chunks of data (i.e.,large sized data or large number of packets of data), heavy datatransfer, or hardware/software mismatch, etc. In contrast, “greensoftware applications” might refer to software applications that havebeen tuned or designed to match computational output with hardware powerconsumption. This matching might be achieved, for example, by addressingone or more of the root causes above, or the like.

Herein also, “efficiency values” might refer to “power efficiencyvalues,” which might be determined based on efficiency of effectivecomputational output as compared with hardware power consumption (i.e.,based on matching of effective computational output to power consumptionacross different phases of load). In some instances, the term “highoutput-low power” might refer to high effective computational outputcaused by execution of a software application, while causing low powerconsumption by hardware components. Such high efficiency softwareapplications, which might have efficiency values in the range of 75 to100%, might be referred to herein as “Green Applications” or “GreenApps.” Similarly, the term “high output-high power” might refer to higheffective computational output caused by execution of a softwareapplication, while causing high power consumption by hardwarecomponents. Such medium-high efficiency software applications, whichmight have efficiency values in the range of 50 to 75%, might bereferred to herein as “Amber Applications” or “Amber Apps.” The term“low output-low power” might refer to low effective computational outputcaused by execution of a software application, while causing low powerconsumption by hardware components. Such medium-low efficiency softwareapplications, which might have efficiency values in the range of 25 to50%, might be referred to herein as “Blue Applications” or “Blue Apps.”Finally, the term “low output-high power” might refer to low effectivecomputational output caused by execution of a software application,while causing high power consumption by hardware components. Such lowefficiency software applications, which might have efficiency values inthe range of less than 25%, might be referred to herein as “RedApplications” or “Red Apps.” These four ranges or categories define thefour efficiency quadrants that track output/load versus powerconsumption (which is shown, e.g., in FIG. 8A).

In some instances, performance testing might include one or more of anisolated approach or a non-isolated approach. In an isolated approach,testing might be performed by deploying the software application inisolation in a “test rig” (i.e., a facility or environment tocharacterize power consumption for different load conditions by loadtesting a single software application as per work load model in anisolated manner). The dependent applications and/or services mightremain wired as usual; alternatively, the software application might berun while simulating the dependent applications and/or services. A “testrig” might be selected for one or more of the following capabilities orcharacteristics: (1) a harness to obtain a power profile of a softwareapplication; (2) agents to monitor performance of the softwareapplication; (3) application lifecycle support and/or softwareconfiguration as available in the production environment; and (4)capability to connect to all the application dependencies as in theproduction environment. The harness, in some instances, might includehardware interfaces at the mother board level and/or software tools.These might include instrumentation to measure power consumption by eachhardware component, instrumentation to measure power consumption by thesystem as a whole, or both. If power consumption instrumentation islimited or not possible, power consumption can be determined byextrapolating hardware utilization using the hardware vendor providedUtilization versus Power Consumption charts.

In a non-isolated approach, the software application might be deployedin a shared environment (e.g., a test environment), while sharing spacewith other applications. This might include an existing testenvironment, in which case detailed study might be performed tounderstand the environmental differences (e.g., in software and hardwarecapacity). The environmental differences might be required toextrapolate the energy and performance efficiency of the softwareapplication. Power consumption measurements might also be taken for theenvironment (e.g., a server) as a whole, where precise application levelconsumption might not be easily determined (if at all). In thisapproach, the hardware utilization data might be obtained and the powerconsumption might be extrapolated using the respective vendor-providedutilization/power characteristics graph (for example, a DDR3 1600 RAMmight consume 5 W at idle phase and 21 W at peak utilization).

Hardware utilization versus power consumption behavior might not belinear in most cases. As such, appropriate graphical curve fittingapproaches might need to be identified and a precise relationship mightneed to be derived. Based on the appropriate graphical curve fittingapproaches and/or the derived precise relationship, power utilization ateach individual hardware component may be derived.

The various embodiments described below utilize one of two approachesfor calculating efficiency: (a) Computational Work (“CW”) Approach; and(b) Justified Software Output (“JSO”) Approach.

In the CW Approach, the computation work done or performed is analogousto work done by an automobile, for instance, which might include factorssuch as rolling resistance, coefficient of drag, weight of the car, andthe like. The practical work done by the automobile might be calculatedbased on the following equation:

Practical Work Done=Force×Displacement×f _(n),   (Eqn. 1)

where f_(n) is a coefficient that takes into account factors such asrolling resistance, coefficient of drag, weight of the car, and thelike.

Similarly, to calculate the work done by a computing device (e.g., userdevice, computer, server, or the like) with respect to an application,force can be equated to the CPU processing power, which can becalculated as CPU instructions per second multiplied by a percentaverage CPU utilization at specific phases of load. Displacement can beequated to the transactions processed, requests processed, throughput,and the like. Weight can be equated to functional factors, including,without limitation, total memory occupancy by the application objects,the number of concurrent users, the number of sessions, and the like.Factors like rolling resistance and drag can be equated tonon-functional latency factors including, but not limited to, logging,reporting, lags due to profiling agents, data replication to supportfailover, garbage collection, defragmentation, and the like.Accordingly, computational work done (“W_(C)”) might be calculated basedon the following equation:

W _(C) =F _(c) ×D _(c) ×f _(n),   (Eqn. 2)

where F_(C) is the computation force, D_(C) is the computationaldisplacement, and f_(n) is the coefficient, which for purposes ofsimplification might be equated to computational mass or memory utilized(“X_(mem)”). In some cases, F_(C) might be calculated based on thefollowing equation:

F _(C) =v _(CPU) ×U _(Ave),   (Eqn. 3)

where v_(CPU) is the rate of CPU instructions (i.e., CPU instructionsper second), U_(Ave) is the percent average CPU utilization at aspecific phase of load.

The total work done (“W_(T)”) might be calculated as follows:

W _(T)=∫_(t1) ^(t2) F _(C) ×D _(C) ×X _(mem).   (Eqn. 4)

The overall efficiency (“η”) might be calculated based on the followingequation:

$\begin{matrix}{{\eta = {\frac{W_{T}}{P_{T}} \times 100\%}},} & \left( {{Eqn}.\mspace{14mu} 5} \right)\end{matrix}$

where P_(T) is the total power consumed in joules.

In some cases, the efficiency might be determined for each phase ofload. In an example, where 10% of the time is occupied by the initiationphase, 20% by the low load phase, 40% by the efficient load phase, 10%by the maximum load phase, 15% by the idle load phase, and 5% by thepre-stop/stop phase, an average efficiency (“η_(Ave)”) might becalculated as follows:

η_(Ave)=0.1×η_(Init)+0.2×η_(Low)+0.4×η_(Eff)+0.1×η_(Max)+0.15×η_(Idle)+0.05×η_(Stop),  (Eqn. 6)

where η_(Init) is the efficiency during the initiation phase, η_(Low) isthe efficiency during the low load phase, η_(Eff) is the efficiencyduring the efficient load phase, η_(Max) is the efficiency during themaximum load phase, η_(Idle) is the efficiency during the idle loadphase, and η_(Stop) is the efficiency during the pre-stop/stop phase.

In the JSO Approach, JSO units are utilized to compare differentsoftware applications of the same type, while in a sense normalizing theresults for ease of comparison. At a high level, the steps involved inthe JSO Approach might include converting software application output toJSO units, performing load versus JSO comparative analysis, anddetermining a green software application (“GSA”) spectrumclassification.

The JSO calculation process flow might include measuring anapplication's output in a given period, which might comprise throughput,transactions processed, batch/asynchronous processes, workflowscompleted, and messages published. The JSO calculation process flowmight further include listing all possible drag factors impacting thesoftware applications, associating each drag factor to the hardwarecomponent impacted (e.g., CPU, RAM, hard disk drive (“HDD” or “Disk”),Network, etc.), determining impact cost factor for each drag factor,based on the software application's maximum hardware componentutilization intensity (which might be equal to the percentage of powerconsumed by the particular hardware from the total power consumptiondriven by the software application). For a CPU intensive application,the CPU might consume a maximum of 50% of the power consumed in total byall hardware components. The software application might need to bestudied and each drag factor might need to be associated with thepercentage of number of business functions performed by the softwareapplication.

Based on the values above, the coefficient of drag of each drag factorcan be calculated and the total coefficient of drag of all factors canbe determined as a percentage value. The JSO might be the applicationoutput factored with the total coefficient of drag.

An efficient software application or green software application mayproduce output matching or closely matching the input over differentload conditions across its lifecycle. Such matching is an indicationthat the software application consumes (or causes the associatedhardware components to consume) just the required power to provideJustified Software Output at any given point of time. A graph might bedrawn with the Y-axis depicting percentage power consumption andpercentage output (in JSO units), while the X-axis might depict time inhours. Continuous JSO, based on the software application output, may beplotted, with the maximum value (at 100%) being peak application JSOoutput. Percentage power consumption may be plotted together on the samegraph.

The deviation between the two graphs (JSO output and percentage powerconsumption) determines the appropriate quadrant in the GSA spectrum,with deviation being based on the following equation:

$\begin{matrix}{{{Deviance} = {\frac{{POWA} - {JSOA}}{JSOA} \times 100\%}},} & \left( {{Eqn}.\mspace{14mu} 7} \right)\end{matrix}$

where POWA is the area of the graph and JSOA is the area of the JSOgraph.

The Application—GSA Spectrum Classification might be determined based onthe following: (a) Green Applications—Deviance of 0% to 25%; (b) AmberApplications—Deviance of 25% to 50%; (c) Blue Applications—Deviance of50% to 75%; and (d) Red Applications—Deviance of greater than 75%.

We now turn to the embodiments as illustrated by the drawings. FIGS.1-10 illustrate some of the features of the method, system, andapparatus for certifying software applications with a green applicationsefficiency (“GAE”) rating or some of the features of the method, system,and apparatus for implementing green software applications, both asreferred to above. The methods, systems, and apparatuses illustrated byFIGS. 1-10 refer to examples of different embodiments that includevarious components and steps, which can be considered alternatives orwhich can be used in conjunction with one another in the variousembodiments. The description of the illustrated methods, systems, andapparatuses shown in FIGS. 1-10 is provided for purposes of illustrationand should not be considered to limit the scope of the differentembodiments.

With reference to the figures, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagramillustrating an exemplary system 100 for certifying softwareapplications with a green applications efficiency (“GAE”) rating or forimplementing green software applications, in accordance with variousembodiments. In system 100 as shown in FIG. 1, green softwareapplications system 100 might comprise a computing device 105, whichmight be any suitable device including, but not limited to, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a mobilephone, or a personal digital assistant (“PDA”), and the like. In somecases, the computing device 105 might comprise at least one of one ormore processors 110, one or more memory devices 115, one or moredisplays 120, one or more graphics processors 125, one or moremeasurement tools 130, one or more disk input/output devices 135, one ormore network devices 140, and the like, or any combination thereof. Theone or more displays 120 might include one or more touchscreen displays,one or more non-touchscreen displays, or a combination of touchscreenand non-touchscreen displays. In addition, the one or more networkdevices 140 may be embodied as one or more transceivers, as one or morepairs of separate transmitters and receivers, or as one or more separateand unpaired transmitters and receivers, network interface cards, or thelike.

In some embodiments, green software applications system 100 mightfurther comprise one or more networks 145, one or more servers 150,and/or one or more databases 155 (including database 155 acommunicatively coupled to server 150, database 155 b that is indirectlycoupled to server 150 via network 145, or the like). The system 100might also comprise a user device 160 that is separate from computingdevice 105. User device 160, like computing device 105, might be anysuitable device including, but not limited to, a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, or apersonal digital assistant (“PDA”), and the like. In some instances,user device 160 might comprise similar components (e.g., one or moreprocessors, one or more memory devices, one or more displays (includingtouchscreen and/or non-touchscreen displays), one or more graphicsprocessors, one or more measurement tools, one or more disk input/outputdevices, one or more network devices, and the like, or any combinationthereof) as computing device 105. User device 160 might, according tosome embodiments, be in communication with device 105 either via network145 or via direct wireless connection, or a combination thereof.

In some embodiments, system 100 might be configured to certify softwareapplications with a green applications efficiency (“GAE”) rating or thelike. In some instances, the processor 110 in computing device 105 mightperform one, more, or all of the processes described herein forcertifying software applications with a GAE rating. In other cases, theserver 150 might perform one, more, or all of the processes describedherein for certifying software applications with a GAE rating. In a fewembodiments, some of the processes might be performed by device 105,while others might be performed by server 150.

In other words, the system 100, according to some embodiments, might beemployed such that the software application to be certified with a GAERating might be deployed in one computing device (e.g., computing device160, which might include, without limitation, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a PDA, or any suitable handheld device, a laptopcomputer, a desktop, a server, or the like). Measurement tools (e.g.,measurement tools 130) can be internal or external to this computingdevice 160, or can be a combination of internal and external tools tothis computing device 160. The measurement tools might be software basedor hardware based. The computing device 160 might communicate with othercomputing devices over the network 145. Computing device 105 or server150 might be employed to host GAE software to calculate JustifiedSoftware Output, GAE Rating, Measurement of Hardware Utilization,recording/measurement of power consumption, etc. The computing device160 might communicate with computing device 105 or server 150 via thenetwork 145. Similarly, in some instances, any one or more of computerdevice 105, device 160, or server 150 might deploy the software to becertified with the GAE rating while one or more of the other of computerdevice 105, device 160, or server 150 might be employed to host GAEsoftware to calculate Justified Software Output, GAE Rating, Measurementof Hardware Utilization, recording/measurement of power consumption,etc. In some cases, the same computing device (i.e., device 105, 160, orserver 150) might run the software being certified with the GAE rating,while at the same time hosting the GAE software to calculate JustifiedSoftware Output, GAE Rating, Measurement of Hardware Utilization,recording/measurement of power consumption, etc.

In use, the processor 110 (of device 105 or device 160) or the server150 might calculate effective power consumption and effectivecomputational work performed by one or more hardware components(including, without limitation, CPU or processor 110, RAM or memory 115,graphics processor 125, disk input/output device 135, network device140, or the like), in each load phase of a plurality of load phases, inresponse to execution of a software application. The softwareapplications being evaluated might include, but are not limited to, amobile software application, a tablet computer software application, astandalone desktop software application, an enterprise softwareapplication, or a software application deployed in a virtualizedenvironment. The power consumption of the one or more hardwarecomponents, either individually or collectively, might be measured usingmeasurement tool 130, which might include at least one of asoftware-based measurement tool, a hardware-based measurement tool, or acombination hardware-software-based measurement tool. The plurality ofload phases might comprise an initiation phase, a low load phase, anefficient load phase, a maximum load phase, an idle load phase, and apre-stop/stop phase, as shown and described in detail below with respectto FIGS. 3 and 4.

The processor 110 or the server 150 might calculate an efficiency ratingfor the software application, for each load phase, based on thecalculated effective power consumption and the calculated effectivecomputational work performed for the software application, for each loadphase. The processor 110 or the server 150 might subsequently categorizethe software application into one of four efficiency quadrants, based onload and power consumption of the software application, and based on thecalculated efficiency rating for the software application. Theefficiency quadrants comprise a high output-low power quadrant(corresponding to a “Green Application” or “Green App” which might havean efficiency value between 75 and 100%), a high output-high powerquadrant (corresponding to an “Amber Application” or “Amber App” whichmight have an efficiency value between 50 and 75%), a low output-lowpower quadrant (corresponding to a “Blue Application” or “Blue App”which might have an efficiency value between 25 and 50%), and a lowoutput-high power quadrant (corresponding to a “Red Application” or “RedApp” which might have an efficiency value less than 25%).

According to some embodiments, the calculation of the effective powerconsumption and the effective computational work performed by one ormore hardware components or the calculation of the efficiency rating forthe software application might be performed by one of calculation of aJustified Software Output and Software Energy Efficiency (JSO Approach)or calculation of Computational Work Done and Software Energy Efficiency(CW Approach), which are described in detail above. In summary form,calculating the Justified Software Output and Software Energy Efficiencymight comprise factoring a drag coefficient associated with eachhardware component affected during each load phase, calculating animpact cost factor for each drag coefficient, and calculating theJustified Software Output based on the factored drag coefficientassociated with each hardware component affected during each load phaseand the calculated impact cost factor for each drag coefficient.Calculating the Computational Work Done and Software Energy Efficiencymight comprise calculating a computational force applied, acomputational throughput, and computational memory utilization, andcalculating the Computational Work Done based on the calculatedcomputational force applied, computational throughput, and computationalmemory utilization over a predetermined period.

In some cases, the calculation of the effective power consumption andthe effective computational work performed by one or more hardwarecomponents, in each load phase, in response to execution of the softwareapplication, might comprise calculating a total effective powerconsumption and a total effective computational work performed by theone or more hardware components, in each load phase, in response toexecution of a plurality of software applications over a given period oftime. Such calculation might further comprise extrapolating anindividual effective power consumption and an individual effectivecomputational work performed by the one or more hardware components, ineach load phase, for each of the plurality of software applications,based at least in part on pre-calculated load profiles for each of theplurality of software applications

Thereafter, the processor 110 or the server 150 might calculate anoverall green applications efficiency (“GAE”) rating for the softwareapplication, based on the categorizing of the software application intoone of the four efficiency quadrants, and based on the calculatedefficiency rating for the software application for each load phase. TheGAE rating is specific to the operating system and the hardware thathost the software application. A change in the hardware componentsand/or operating system might result in different GAE ratings for thesame software application. In some cases, the overall GAE rating mightbe a standard average, a weighted average, or some other compiledrepresentation of the calculated efficiency ratings over all the loadphases. In some embodiments, the calculated efficiency rating for eachload phase referred to above might correspond to the GAE rating for thesoftware application, in which case, a separate (or overall) GAE ratingcalculation is not performed. The processor 110 or the server 150 mightsubsequently certify the software application with the calculated GAErating (either at each load phase and/or as an overall GAE rating forthe software application).

In some cases, the GAE rating for each software application that isevaluated/certified might be sent to a user device associated with auser for presentation to the user along with details of the operatingplatform and hardware against, or with respect to, which thecertification was done (as shown, e.g., in field 840 in FIG. 8B). Othermeans of communicating with the user, including, but not limited to,e-mail, text messaging, chat messaging, etc., can also be used. Anexample of a graphical user interface showing such presentation of theGAE rating is shown, e.g., in FIGS. 8A and 8B, as described below. Insome cases, the GAE rating might be presented in the form of apercentage efficiency value, one of four color categories, any suitableindicator of efficiency, or any combination thereof.

According to some aspects, system 100 might be configured to implementgreen software applications. In some instances, the processor 110 incomputing device 105 or 160 might perform one, more, or all of theprocesses described herein for implementing green software applications.In other cases, the server 150 might perform one, more, or all of theprocesses described herein for implementing green software applications.In a few embodiments, some of the processes might be performed by device105 or 160, while others might be performed by server 150.

In use, the processor 110 (of device 105 or device 160) or the server150 might perform one or more performance tests of a softwareapplication. The one or more performance tests might include one or moreof an isolated approach or a non-isolated approach, as described indetail above. In some cases, the processor 110 or the server 150 mightevaluate a performance of the software application during the one ormore performance tests. The processor 110 or the server 150 mightmeasure power consumption of one or more hardware components, inresponse to execution of the software application during the one or moreperformance tests, as described in detail above. The processor 110 orthe server 150 might generate a power consumption profile for thesoftware application, based on the measure power consumption, and mighttune the software application, such that power consumption of the one ormore hardware components matches a power load caused by execution of thesoftware application, based at least in part on the power consumptionprofile for the software application.

In some instances, the processor 110 or the server 150 might monitorhardware load for each of a plurality of hardware, in response toexecution of a software application, as measured by one or moremeasurement tools in communication with the computer. The plurality ofhardware might comprise one or more central processing units (“CPUs”),one or more memory devices, one or more disk input/output (“I/O”)devices, one or more network devices, and one or more graphicsprocessors. In some cases, measuring, with the one or more measurementtools, the hardware load for each of a plurality of hardware, inresponse to execution of a software application might comprise one ormore of extrapolating power consumption based on hardware utilizationmeasurements and reference consumption/utilization charts or directlymeasuring power consumption.

The processor 110 or the server 150 might categorize the softwareapplication as one of a CPU intensive application (“Cat C”), a memoryintensive application (“Cat M”), a disk I/O intensive application (“CatD”), network intensive application (“Cat N”), a graphics intensiveapplication (“Cat G”), or a combination of one or more of thesecategories (“combination intensive application”; “Cat Mix”), based atleast in part on results of the monitoring of the hardware load for eachof the plurality of hardware, in response to execution of the softwareapplication.

Based on said categorizing, the processor 110 or the server 150 mightperform a root cause analysis for inefficiency for the softwareapplication. The root cause analysis might reveal one or more rootcauses, which might comprise latency in resource release, inefficientcomputational logic, creation of large and long-lived objects in memory,storage of large sized or large number of packets of data, heavy datatransfer over network 145 (which might include a local area network(“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), a virtual private network (“VPN”),the Internet, or any other suitable network), and hardware/softwaremismatch, or the like.

Based on the root cause analysis, the processor 110 or the server 150might determine one or more solution approaches for minimizing oreliminating inefficiency for the software application. The one or moresolution approaches for each of the categories above (e.g., “Cat C” or“Cat M” and the like) are described in detail below with respect toFIGS. 4A-4D and 6.

The processor 110 or the server 150 might thereafter send the one ormore solution approaches to one or more user devices for displaying, onthe one or more user devices, recommendations for minimizing oreliminating inefficiency for the software application. Hardware detailsof the hardware platform and/or the operating system hosting thesoftware application might also be sent to the user. In some cases, theone or more solution approaches and/or the hardware details might besent to the user via e-mail, text messaging, chat messaging, or anyother suitable communications methods. An example of a graphical userinterface showing such display of the one or more solution approaches(as well as the hardware details) is shown and described in detail belowwith respect to FIG. 8B.

By tuning or designing the software applications as described above,green software applications may be achieved, along with a reduction inthe carbon footprint of the software application hosted in computingdevice 105, computing device 160, or server 150.

We now turn to FIG. 2, which is a general schematic diagram illustratingan exemplary system 200 for certifying software applications with agreen applications efficiency (“GAE”) rating or for implementing greensoftware applications, in accordance with various embodiments. In FIG.2, system 200 might comprise one or more user or computing devices 205,which might comprise any suitable device including, but not limited to,a tablet computer 205 a, a smart phone 205 b, a mobile phone 205 c, aPDA 205 d, a desktop computer 205 e, a laptop computer 205 f, or thelike. User device 205 might be operatively coupled with a server 210over network 215. In some cases, a wired connection (including, withoutlimitation, optical fiber connection, copper wire connection, cableconnection, and/or the like) may be made between the user device 205 andthe server 210. Alternatively, or in addition, a wireless connection maybe implemented between the user device 205 and the server 210, viatelecommunications relay systems 220, which might include, withoutlimitation, one or more wireless network interfaces (e.g., wirelessmodems, wireless access points, and the like), one or more towers, oneor more satellites, and the like.

System 200 might further comprise one or more databases 225. The one ormore databases 225 may be communicatively coupled with the server 210(e.g., database 225 a), communicatively coupled with the server 210 overnetwork 215 (e.g., database 225 b), or any combination of theseconfigurations.

In some embodiments one or more of the user devices 205 or the server210 might perform the processes performed by the processor 110 or theserver 150 for certifying software applications with a greenapplications efficiency (“GAE”) rating or for implementing greensoftware applications, as described in detail above. According to someembodiments, any one of the tablet computer 205 a, the smart phone 205b, the mobile phone 205 c, the PDA 205 d, the desktop computer 205 e,the laptop computer 205 f, and the server 210 might deploy the softwareapplication being certified with the GAE Rating, while one or more ofthe other of the tablet computer 205 a, the smart phone 205 b, themobile phone 205 c, the PDA 205 d, the desktop computer 205 e, thelaptop computer 205 f, and the server 210 might host the GAE softwarefor performing the certification process as described above. Theembodiment of FIG. 2 might otherwise be similar in terms offunctionality as the embodiment of FIG. 1 as described in detail above.

FIGS. 3A and 3B (collectively, “FIG. 3”) illustrate the differences inthe application load (depicted as percentage JSO values) versus powerprofiles of a non-green software application and a green softwareapplication, respectively. For example, FIG. 3A is a diagramillustrating an example graphical representation of application load (orJSO) versus power profile over a 24 hour period for a computationalsystem executing a software application that is a non-green softwareapplication. FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating an exemplary graphicalrepresentation of application load (or JSO) versus power profile over a24 hour period for a computational system executing a green softwareapplication, in accordance with various embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the Justified Software Output curve 305 representsthe computational output to varying load imposed by the execution of asoftware application. In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the JSO curve 305goes through load variations, as well as various phases of its lifecycle during a 24 hour period. These phases might include, withoutlimitation, an initiation phase 330, a low load phase 335, an efficientload phase 340, a maximum load phase 345, an idle load phase 350, and apre-stop/stop phase 355. In the initiation phase 330, as shown in FIG.3A, although zero loads are applied by the software application, thesoftware application (or rather, the hardware components affected by theexecution of the software application) consumes about 10% of the maximumpower. As the load increases to maximum load, the power consumption, asrepresented by power consumption curve 310 for a non-green softwareapplication, increases in proportion to the load. At around 1100 hours,the load on the software application might reduce to an idle state,going into the idle load phase 350, which might correspond to the user'slunch break, for instance. Importantly, during this idle load phase 350,the power consumption does not reduce and remains above 90%. Similarbehavior is shown toward the end of the day, with the power consumptionremaining high (e.g., above 90%) despite being in the pre-stop/stopphase 355 where load has been reduced. As discussed above, one or moreroot causes of such behavior might include, without limitation, latencyin resource release, inefficient computational logic, creation of largeand long-lived objects in memory, storage of large chunks of data (i.e.,large sized data or large number of packets of data), heavy datatransfer over a network, or hardware/software mismatch.

By contrast, a tuned or designed green software application might causethe power consumption of hardware components to more closely match theload or output caused by execution of the software application, asshown, e.g., in the application load (or JSO) versus power profile ofFIG. 3B. In particular, as shown in the example of FIG. 3B, a greensoftware application having high power efficiency or a high GAE rating(as described below) might cause the power consumption to decreaseduring the low load phase 335, during the idle load phase 350, andduring the pre-stop/stop phase 355, by addressing one or more of theroot causes mentioned above. For example, the green software applicationmight be tuned or designed to quickly release resources, containefficient computational logic, minimize or eliminate large and/orlong-lived objects in memory, minimize storage of large chunks of data,reduce heavy data transfer over the network, and/or closely matchhardware and software characteristics, or the like.

FIGS. 4A-4D (collectively, “FIG. 4”) illustrate various applicationpower profile graphs for certain hardware intensive applications, priorto green software application implementation. For instance, FIG. 4A is adiagram illustrating an example graphical representation of anapplication power profile for a memory intensive application (“Cat M”),prior to green software application implementation, in accordance withvarious embodiments. FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an examplegraphical representation of an application power profile for a CPUintensive application (“Cat C”), prior to green software applicationimplementation, in accordance with various embodiments. FIG. 4C is adiagram illustrating an example graphical representation of anapplication power profile for a disk I/O intensive application (“CatD”), prior to green software application implementation, in accordancewith various embodiments. FIG. 4D is a diagram illustrating an examplegraphical representation of an application power profile for a networkintensive application (“Cat N”), prior to green software applicationimplementation, in accordance with various embodiments.

In FIG. 4, for purposes of illustration and for ease of comparison, theJSO curve 405 is the same as the JSO curve 305 in FIG. 3. The RAM ormemory curve 410, the Disk I/O curve 415, the CPU curve 420, and theNetwork curve 425 are shown in relation to the JSO curve 405 in each ofthe Cat M (FIG. 4A), Cat C (FIG. 4B), Cat D (FIG. 4C), and Cat N (FIG.4D) conditions.

A Cat M condition might be indicative of high utilization of memory orRAM as compared with utilization of other hardware components, asillustrated by the relatively high RAM curve 410 in FIG. 4A. As with thenon-green software application, the profile of which is shown in FIG.3A, as the load is increased, the RAM utilization is increased, but whenthe load is reduced, the RAM is not released. As a result, the RAM curve410 (i.e., RAM utilization) remains high even during the idle load phase450 and the pre-stop/stop phase 455.

For a memory intensive application or “CAT M” application, one or moresolution approaches might comprise determining whether unused objectsremain for longer durations in memory, or determining whether largenumbers of large-sized objects exist in memory. Based on a determinationthat unused objects remain for longer durations in memory, memoryscavenging operations and defragmentation might be optimized. Based on adetermination that large numbers of large-sized objects exist in memory,the large-sized objects might be identified, a cause for the large-sizedobjects might be determined, and actions to take based on the determinedcause for the large-sized objects might also be determined. Othersolution approaches might include, without limitation, up scaling ordown scaling hardware components according to application requirements,upgrading RAM (e.g., from DDR2 to DDR3 for high RAM utilizations closeto 100%, etc.), and/or reducing data caching.

A Cat C condition might be indicative of high utilization of theprocessor or CPU as compared with utilization of other hardwarecomponents, as illustrated by the relatively high CPU curve 420 in FIG.4B. As with the non-green software application, the profile of which isshown in FIG. 3A, as the load is increased, the CPU utilization isincreased, but when the load is reduced, the CPU is not released. As aresult, the CPU curve 420 (i.e., CPU utilization) remains high evenduring the idle load phase 450 and the pre-stop/stop phase 455.

For a CPU intensive application or “CAT C” application, one or moresolution approaches might comprise revising thread allocations, reducingbusy wait times (or timeouts), optimizing transaction execution times,optimizing input and output operations, optimizing/streamlining datareplication, and/or revising compression techniques. Other solutionapproaches might include, without limitation, streamlining threadexecution, configuring thread allocations to service APIs as load basedthread allocations and utilizing accurate work load models, establishingpriority for fast processing versus parallel processing, selectingappropriate power profiles (e.g., power governors), and/or tuning thesoftware applications to achieve faster CPU/Memory resource release.

A Cat G condition might have similar problems as a Cat C condition. As aresult, one or more solution approaches for a Cat C condition might beapplicable to a Cat G condition.

A Cat D condition might be indicative of high utilization of the DiskI/O as compared with utilization of other hardware components, asillustrated by the relatively high Disk I/O curve 415 in FIG. 4C. Aswith the non-green software application, the profile of which is shownin FIG. 3A, as the load is increased, the Disk I/O utilization isincreased, but when the load is reduced, the Disk I/O is notproportional. As a result, the Disk I/O curve 415 (i.e., Disk I/Outilization) remains high even during the idle load phase 450 and thepre-stop/stop phase 455.

For a Disk I/O intensive application or “CAT D” application, one or moresolution approaches might comprise determining whether the softwareapplication is logging excessive amounts of data, determining whetherexcessive file persistence of the software application is causing highinput/output rates, and/or determining whether virtual memoryutilization is high. Based on a determination that the softwareapplication is logging excessive amounts of data, the softwareapplication might be reevaluated to reduce logging excessive amounts ofdata. Based on a determination that excessive file persistence of thesoftware application is causing high input/output rates, input/outputrates might be optimized for excessive file persistence by the softwareapplication. Based on a determination that virtual memory utilization ishigh, garbage-collection-aware virtual memory managers might beinstalled; alternatively, or in addition, hard disks might be upgradedto hard disks having high input/output rates. Other solution approachesmight include, without limitation, optimizing serialization to reducedisk occupancy rates, and/or matching the hard disks to match theapplication to save power (for improved input/output speed) in order toenhance disk power ratings.

A Cat N condition might be indicative of high utilization of the networkdevices as compared with utilization of other hardware components, asillustrated by the relatively high Network curve 425 in FIG. 4D comparedwith the Network curves 425 in FIGS. 4A-4C. As with the non-greensoftware application, the profile of which is shown in FIG. 3A, as theload is increased, the network utilization is increased, but when theload is reduced, the network device is not released. As a result, theNetwork curve 425 (i.e., Network utilization) remains high even duringthe idle load phase 450 and the pre-stop/stop phase 455.

For a network intensive application or “CAT N” application, one or moresolution approaches might comprise optimizing timeouts for dependencies,reducing/streamlining transportation of large packets of data or largenumbers of packets of data over a network (e.g., network 145 or 215),optimizing data replication, and/or optimizing data pre-fetches/caching.Other solution approaches might include, without limitation, optimizingfine grained input and output.

A Cat Mix condition might be indicative of high utilization of the twoor more hardware components as compared with utilization of otherhardware components, or high utilization of all hardware components.

For a combination intensive application or “CAT Mix” application, one ormore solution approaches might comprise any combination of the solutionapproaches described above with respect to Cat M, Cat C, Cat G, Cat D,and Cat N applications. For example, some solution approaches mightinclude, without limitation, implementing aggressive scavenging forfaster memory release, implementing faster CPU/memory resource release,matching random access memory (“RAM”) hardware to RAM utilization,reducing excessive data caching, implementing streamline threadexecution, reducing disk occupancy rate, implementing efficientmanagement of virtual memory, matching hardware components according toapplication characteristics, optimizing data replication, optimizingdata pre-fetches and data caching, and/or streamlining transport oflarge packets of data or large numbers of packets of data over a network(e.g., network 145 or 215).

FIG. 5 is a general schematic flow diagram illustrating an exemplarymethod 500 for certifying software applications with a greenapplications efficiency (“GAE”) rating, in accordance with variousembodiments. According to some embodiments, one, more, or all theprocesses in method 500 might be performed by a local user device (e.g.,computing device 105 or user device 205 in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively).In other embodiments, one, more, or all the processes in method 500might be performed by a remote user device or server (including, withoutlimitation, server 150, device 160, or server 210).

Method 500 might comprise, at block 505, calculating effective powerconsumption and effective computational work performed by one or morehardware components, in each load phase of a plurality of load phases,in response to execution of a software application, as measured by oneor more measurement tools in communication with the computer. Theplurality of load phases might include, without limitation, aninitiation phase, a low load phase, an efficient load phase, a maximumload phase, an idle load phase, and a pre-stop/stop phase, as describedin detail above with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4.

At block 510, the method 500 might comprise calculating an efficiencyrating for the software application, for each load phase, based on thecalculated effective power consumption and the calculated effectivecomputational work performed for the software application, for each loadphase. Method 500 might further comprise categorizing the softwareapplication into one of four efficiency quadrants, based on load andpower consumption of the software application, and based on thecalculated efficiency rating for the software application for each loadphase. The efficiency quadrants comprise a high output-low powerquadrant (corresponding to “Green Apps”), a high output-high powerquadrant (corresponding to “Amber Apps”), a low output-low powerquadrant (corresponding to “Blue Apps”), and a low output-high powerquadrant (corresponding to “Red Apps”).

Method 500 might comprise, at block 520, calculating an overall greenapplications efficiency (“GAE”) rating for the software application,based on the categorizing of the software application into one of thefour efficiency quadrants, and based on the calculated efficiency ratingfor the software application. The GAE rating is specific to theoperating system and the hardware that host the software application. Achange in the hardware components and/or operating system might resultin different GAE ratings for the same software application. In somecases, the overall GAE rating might be a standard average, a weightedaverage, or some other compiled representation of the calculatedefficiency ratings over all the load phases. In some embodiments, thecalculated efficiency rating referred to in block 510 above mightcorrespond to the GAE rating for the software application, in whichcase, a separate (or overall) GAE rating calculation is not performed(i.e., block 520 might, in these cases, be skipped). At block 525,method 500 might further comprise certifying the software applicationwith the calculated GAE rating, which might be the overall GAE ratingfor the software application (with respect to the hardware and operatingsystem hosting the software application), the GAE for each load phase,or both.

In some instances, method 500 might further comprise transmitting theGAE rating for each software application to a user device associatedwith a user for presentation of the GAE rating to the user. An exampleof a graphical user interface showing such presentation of the GAErating is shown, e.g., in FIGS. 8A and 8B below. In some cases, the GAErating might be presented in the form of a percentage efficiency value,one of four color categories, any suitable indicator of efficiency, orany combination thereof.

FIG. 6 is a general schematic flow diagram illustrating an exemplarymethod 600 for implementing green software applications, in accordancewith various embodiments. According to some embodiments, one, more, orall the processes in method 600 might be performed by a local userdevice (e.g., computing device 105 or user device 205 in FIGS. 1 and 2,respectively). In other embodiments, one, more, or all the processes inmethod 600 might be performed by a remote user device or server(including, without limitation, server 150, device 160, or server 210).

Method 600 might comprise, at block 605, monitoring hardware utilization(or load) for each of a plurality of hardware components (including,without limitation, CPU, memory, disk input/output, graphicalprocessor(s) and network, or the like). Monitoring of the hardwareutilization (or load) might be implemented using any appropriatemeasurement tool, including, but not limited to, a software-basedmeasurement tool, a hardware-based measurement tool, or a combinationhardware-software-based measurement tool.

At block 610, the method 600 might comprise categorizing the softwareapplication as one of a CPU intensive application (“CAT C” application),a memory intensive application (“CAT M” application), a disk I/Ointensive application (“CAT D” application), network intensiveapplication (“CAT N” application), a graphics intensive application(“CAT G” application), or a combination of one or more of thesecategories (“combination intensive application”; “CAT Mix” application).Categorizing, in some instances, might be based at least in part onresults of the monitoring of the hardware utilization (or load) for eachof the plurality of hardware, in response to execution of the softwareapplication.

Based on said categorizing, a root cause analysis for inefficiency forthe software application might be performed, at block 615. Based on theroot cause analysis, one or more solution approaches might be determinedfor minimizing or eliminating inefficiency for the software application(block 620). For example, for a CPU intensive application (“CAT C”application), the one or more solution approaches might comprise one ormore of revising thread allocations, reducing busy wait times,optimizing transaction execution times, optimizing input and outputoperations, optimizing data replication, or revising compressiontechniques.

For a memory intensive application (“CAT M” application), the one ormore solution approaches might comprise one or more of determiningwhether unused objects remain for longer durations in memory ordetermining whether large numbers of large-sized objects exist inmemory. The one or more solution approaches might further compriseoptimizing, based on a determination that unused objects remain forlonger durations in memory, memory scavenging operations anddefragmentation. The one or more solution approaches might furthercomprise, based on a determination that large numbers of large-sizedobjects exist in memory, identifying said large-sized objects,determining a cause for the large-sized objects, and determining actionsto take based on the determined cause for the large-sized objects.

For a disk I/O intensive application (“CAT D” application), the one ormore solution approaches might comprise one or more of determiningwhether the software application is logging excessive amounts of data,determining whether excessive file persistence of the softwareapplication is causing high input/output rates, or determining whethervirtual memory utilization is high. The one or more solution approachesmight further comprise reevaluating, based on a determination that thesoftware application is logging excessive amounts of data, the softwareapplication; optimizing, based on a determination that excessive filepersistence of the software application is causing high input/outputrates, input/output rates for excessive file persistence by the softwareapplication; and performing, based on a determination that virtualmemory utilization is high, one or more of installinggarbage-collection-aware virtual memory managers or upgrading hard disksto hard disks having high input/output rates.

For a graphics intensive application (“CAT G” application), the one ormore solution approaches for a Cat C application might be applicable.For a network intensive application (“CAT N” application), the one ormore solution approaches might comprise one or more of optimizingtimeouts for dependencies, reducing transportation of large packets ofdata or large numbers of packets of data over a network (e.g., network145 or 215), optimizing data replication, or optimizing caching.

For a combination intensive application (“CAT Mix” application), the oneor more solution approaches might comprise one or more of implementingaggressive scavenging for faster memory release, implementing fasterCPU/memory resource release, matching random access memory (“RAM”)hardware to RAM utilization, reducing excessive data caching,implementing streamline thread execution, reducing disk occupancy rate,implementing efficient management of virtual memory, matching hardwarecomponents according to application characteristics, optimizing datareplication, optimizing data pre-fetches and data caching, orstreamlining transport of large packets of data or large numbers ofpackets of data over a network (e.g., network 145 or 215).

At block 625, the one or more solution approaches might be sent to oneor more user devices (e.g., user device 105 or 205) for displaying, onthe one or more user devices, recommendations for minimizing oreliminating inefficiency for the software application. The hardwaredetails associated with evaluation of the software application (e.g.,the hardware and the operating system hosting the software application)may also be sent and/or presented to the user. Other means ofcommunicating the one or more solution approaches (and/or the hardwaredetails) with the user might include, but is not limited to, e-mail,text messaging, chat messaging, or the like.

FIG. 7 is a general schematic flow diagram illustrating an exemplarymethod 700 for implementing green software applications, in accordancewith various embodiments. According to some embodiments, one, more, orall the processes in method 700 might be performed by a local userdevice (e.g., computing device 105 or user device 205 in FIGS. 1 and 2,respectively). In other embodiments, one, more, or all the processes inmethod 700 might be performed by a remote user device or server(including, without limitation, server 150, device 160, or server 210).

At block 705, method 700 might comprise performing one or moreperformance tests of a software application. In some instances,performance testing might include one or more of an isolated approach ora non-isolated approach, as described in detail above. In someembodiments, a performance of the software application during the one ormore performance tests might be evaluated (block 710), according to theone or more techniques described above. The method 700 might furthercomprise, at block 715, measuring power consumption of one or morehardware components (including, without limitation, CPU, memory, diskinput/output, graphical processor(s) and network, or the like).

At block 720, a power consumption profile might be generated for thesoftware application, based on the measured power consumption. Thesoftware application might subsequently, at block 725, be tuned suchthat the power consumption of the one or more hardware componentsmatches, or substantially matches (i.e., matches within a predeterminedthreshold amount (including, but not limited to, a percentage value of1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20%, or the like)), a power load caused byexecution of the software application. In some cases, such tuning of thesoftware application might be based at least in part on the generatedpower consumption profile for the software application. According tosome embodiments, tuning might be automatically performed by thecomputing device or server, based on the power consumption profile forthe software application. In other embodiments, tuning might beperformed manually, based on the power consumption profile for thesoftware application. This activity can be done in conjunction withefficiency rating (e.g., GAE rating) of the software application. In anyevent, this activity might provide clear cut areas of excessive powerconsumption by particular hardware component(s).

According to some embodiments, processes at blocks 705 to 725 of method700 might be repeated as necessary or as desired. The user interfaces asshown in FIGS. 8A and 8B below illustrate how the efficiency ratings,additional details (e.g., hardware details and the like), and solutionapproaches/recommendations might be communicated to the user. Forexample, the GAE Certificate or Rating might be associated with thehardware platform and/or operating system hosting the softwareapplication under evaluation. As such, details of the hardware platformand/or the operating system with respect to which the softwareapplication was certified may be communicated to the user along with theGAE Rating (as shown, e.g., in FIG. 8B).

FIGS. 8A-8B (collectively, “FIG. 8”) are illustrations of mobile userdevices 800 used by users that present exemplary graphical userinterfaces 810 for GAE rating certification of software applicationsand/or implementation of green software applications, in accordance withvarious embodiments. For purposes of illustration only, user device 800in FIG. 8 is shown as a tablet computer, but can be any user computer oruser device including, but not limited to, a desktop or PC, a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, or thelike—such as tablet computer 205 a, smart phone 205 b, mobile phone 205c, PDA 205 d, desktop computer 205 e, or laptop computer 205 f, as shownin FIG. 2. User device 800 might comprise device housing 805, displayscreen 805 a, and the like. Display screen 805 a might comprise atouchscreen display, a non-touchscreen display, or the like. Displayedon the display screen 805 a might be a graphical user interface (“GUI”)810, which may be a free floating GUI window filling a portion of thedisplay screen 805 a or may be a software application that fills theentire display screen 805 a. In some cases, the GUI 810 might comprise awindow that might be divided into two or more panels 815, 820, and 830,e.g., by using a split screen arrangement or a separate windowarrangement (which might stack or tile the separate windows).Alternatively, the two or more panels 815, 820, and 830 might beindependent windows or related but separate windows.

In FIG. 8A, the user device 800 might perform one, more, or all of theprocesses described above for certifying various software applicationswith a green applications efficiency (“GAE”) rating, which might be aGAE rating for one or more load phases and/or an overall GAE rating.Alternatively, or additionally, a server (such as server 150 or 210 inFIGS. 1 and 2, respectively) might perform one, more, or all of theprocesses described above for certifying the various softwareapplications with the GAE rating. According to some embodiments, the GUI810 might comprise a panel 815 that might display a list of softwareapplications, which might include one or more of a navigation softwareapplication, a chat messaging software application, operating systemsoftware application, an Internet browser, a document viewer softwareapplication (which might include a .PDF or .PS document reader, a wordprocessor, a spreadsheet maker/editor, a presentation making utility, adocument publishing utility, and/or other documentmanagement/making/editing utility, or the like), or other softwareapplications that a user might install on the user device 800.

In panel 820, the quadrant system 825 used to represent thecertification under the GAE rating system might be displayed. Thequadrant system 825 might be divided into four quadrants (i.e., a highoutput-low power quadrant, a high output-high power quadrant, a lowoutput-low power quadrant, and a low output-high power quadrant)according to load (or JSO) and power consumption, and might divide allsoftware applications into one of four color categories eachcorresponding to each of the four quadrants, as follows: (i) GreenApplications (or “Green Apps”); (ii) Amber Applications (or “AmberApps”); (iii) Blue Applications (or “Blue Apps”); and (iv) RedApplications (or “Red Apps”). Green Apps, which are characterized byhigh output and low power, might include software applications that havea 75 to 100% efficiency in terms of matching power consumption to loador JSO (similar to the load/power matching shown, e.g., in theapplication load (or JSO) versus power profile of FIG. 3B). Amber Apps,which are characterized by high output and high power, might includesoftware applications that have a 50 to 75% efficiency. Blue Apps, whichare characterized by low output and low power, might include softwareapplications that have a 25 to 50% efficiency. Red Apps, which arecharacterized by high output and high power, might include softwareapplications that have a less than 25% efficiency.

After the certification processes described above with respect to FIG.5, each of the software applications listed in the GUI 810 might becertified with a GAE rating. In some instances, also, an overall GAErating might be displayed for each software application, while optionsfor expanding the views might be provided so as to present the GAErating for the software application at each phase of load (in whichcase, the particular phase of load might also be indicated, e.g., as atextual indicator, a graphic indicator, or the like). In some cases, theGAE Rating might be displayed in terms of a percentage efficiency value.In other cases, the GAE Rating might be displayed as one of the fourcolor categories described above. In yet other cases, the GAE Ratingmight be displayed as both a percentage efficiency value and one of thefour color categories (e.g., as shown in FIG. 8A). Although the GAERating is shown and described above in terms of a percentage efficiencyvalue and/or one of four color categories, the various embodiments arenot so limited, and the GAE Rating may be displayed as any suitableindicator of efficiency.

As shown in the example embodiment of panel 815 of FIG. 8, some softwareapplications (e.g., ChatMess and CamView) might be certified as GreenApps with percentage ratings between 75 and 100% (e.g., 92% and 85%,respectively). Some software applications (e.g., Navi-go and DocuPro)might be certified as Amber Apps with percentage ratings between 50 and75% (e.g., 68% and 60%, respectively). Other software applications(e.g., Operating System) might be certified as Blue Apps with percentageratings between 25 and 50% (e.g., 48%). Yet other software applications(e.g., NetBrowserPro) might be certified as Red Apps with percentageratings below 25% (e.g., 23%). These example certifications are merelypresented for illustration purposes only, and are not intended to limitthe scope of the various embodiments. Each software application beingcertified might be evaluated under the processes that are, for example,outlined in overview above with respect to FIG. 5. Those processes arealso described for illustration purposes only, and do not limit thescope of the various embodiments, which might include any suitableevaluation steps for evaluating and certifying the efficiency of anysoftware application, in terms of power consumption versusload/computational output or Justified Software Output.

Turning to FIG. 8B, once a software application has been certified witha GAE rating—or, in some cases, independent of any GAE ratingcertification—the software applications might be evaluated forimplementing green software applications. This might include followingsome or all of the processes described above with respect to FIG. 6,said processes being described only for purposes of illustration (as anysuitable processes for evaluating and recommending ways to improvepower/load efficiency of software applications may be implemented). Forexample, in panel 815, a user might be given the option to select orhighlight one or more software applications, one or more GAE categoriesor values, or the like, as represented, e.g., by the bubble cursor overthe selected software application (in this case, Navi-go), by thebold-face typing of the name of the selected software application, bythe enlargement of the font of the name of the selected softwareapplication, or by any other suitable item selection indicator, or anycombination thereof. Selection of one or more software applications, oneor more GAE categories or values, or the like might cause a separatepanel (in this case, panel 830) to display at least one of a hardwareintensive category determined by evaluating the efficiency of theselected software application, one or more problems associated withtypical systems under said hardware intensive category, and/or one ormore solution approaches for improving the system in view of theidentified hardware intensive category and/or the one or more problemsassociated with typical such systems.

As discussed above, the hardware intensive categories might comprise oneof a memory intensive application (“Cat M”), a CPU intensive application(“Cat C”), a disk I/O intensive application (“Cat D”), a graphicsintensive application (“Cat G”), a network intensive application (“CatN”), or a combination intensive application (“Cat Mix”; which is acombination of one or more of the above listed categories). In theexample shown in FIG. 8B, after evaluation of the software applicationNavi-go (e.g., using one, more, or all of the processes described abovewith respect to FIG. 6), the system might identify and display thehardware intensive category for Navi-go as a Cat N (or network intensiveapplication). In field 835 in panel 830, one or more solution approachesmight be presented, either in the form of textual content, audiocontent, video content, or a combination thereof. In some cases, theproblem associated with Cat N type software applications in general orthe Navi-go software application specifically might also be presented infield 835 or a separate field that is embodied in panel 830 or in adifferent panel; similar to the presentation of the solution approaches,the presentation of the problem might take the form of textual content,audio content, video content, or a combination thereof. In the exampleof FIG. 8B, both the problem and the one or more solution approaches forthe Cat N type software application Navi-go are presented in textualcontent form together in field 835 of panel 830. According to someembodiments, hardware details of the hardware platform and/or theoperating system might be presented in field 840 of panel 830 or aseparate field that is embodied in panel 830 or in a different panel.

According to some embodiments, a user might be given the option ofselecting one, more, or all of the one or more solution approaches,which might result in a utility wizard being invoked that might take theuser through the processes for implementing each of the selectedsolution approaches for tuning the subject software applications.

Thereafter, the user might be provided an option to recertify and/orreevaluate the tuned software applications. Alternatively, the processof modifying the software applications to implement green softwareapplication might include automatically recertifying and/or reevaluatingthe tuned software applications. The results of the recertificationand/or the reevaluation might subsequently be presented as describedabove and shown, e.g., in FIG. 8.

We now turn to FIG. 9, which is a block diagram illustrating anexemplary computer architecture. FIG. 9 provides a schematicillustration of one embodiment of a computer system 900 that can performthe methods provided by various other embodiments, as described herein,and/or can perform the functions of local computer system 105 or 205, orremote computer system 150 or 210, or other computer systems asdescribed above. It should be noted that FIG. 9 is meant only to providea generalized illustration of various components, of which one or more,or none, of each may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 9, therefore,broadly illustrates how individual system elements may be implemented ina relatively separated or relatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 900 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 905, or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate. The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 910, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors, or one or more special-purpose processorssuch as digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, or the like; one or more input devices 915, which caninclude without limitation a mouse, a keyboard, or the like; and one ormore output devices 920, which can include without limitation a displaydevice, a printer, or the like.

The computer system 900 may further include, or be in communicationwith, one or more storage devices 925. The one or more storage devices925 can comprise, without limitation, local and/or network accessiblestorage, or can include, without limitation, a disk drive, a drivearray, an optical storage device, a solid-state storage device. Thesolid-state storage device can include, but is not limited to, one ormore of a random access memory (“RAM”) or a read-only memory (“ROM”),which can be programmable, flash-updateable, or the like. Such storagedevices may be configured to implement any appropriate data stores,including without limitation various file systems, database structures,or the like.

The computer system 900 might also include a communications subsystem930, which can include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, a wirelesscommunication device or chipset, or the like. The wireless communicationdevice might include, but is not limited to, a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a WWAN device, cellularcommunication facilities, or the like.

The communications subsystem 930 may permit data to be exchanged with anetwork (such as network 145 or 215, to name examples), with othercomputer systems, with any other devices described herein, or with anycombination of network, systems, and devices. According to someembodiments, network 145 (as well as network 215) might include a localarea network (“LAN”), including without limitation a fiber network, anEthernet network, a Token-Ring™ network, and the like; a wide-areanetwork (“WAN”); a wireless wide area network (“WWAN”); a virtualnetwork, such as a virtual private network (“VPN”); the Internet; anintranet; an extranet; a public switched telephone network (“PSTN”); aninfra-red network; a wireless network, including without limitation anetwork operating under any of the IEEE 802.11 suite of protocols, theBluetooth™ protocol, or any other wireless protocol; or any combinationof these or other networks. In many embodiments, the computer system 900will further comprise a working memory 935, which can include a RAM orROM device, as described above.

The computer system 900 may also comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 935, including anoperating system 940, device drivers, executable libraries, or othercode. The software elements may include one or more application programs945, which may comprise computer programs provided by variousembodiments, or may be designed to implement methods and/or configuresystems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. Merely byway of example, one or more procedures described with respect to themethods discussed above might be implemented as code or instructionsexecutable by a computer or by a processor within a computer. In anaspect, such code or instructions can be used to configure or adapt ageneral purpose computer, or other device, to perform one or moreoperations in accordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions or code might be encoded and/or stored on anon-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as the storagedevices 925 described above. In some cases, the storage medium might beincorporated within a computer system, such as the system 900. In otherembodiments, the storage medium might be separate from a computersystem—that is, a removable medium, such as a compact disc, or the like.In some embodiments, the storage medium might be provided in aninstallation package, such that the storage medium can be used toprogram, configure, and/or adapt a general purpose computer with theinstructions/code stored thereon. These instructions might take the formof executable code, which is executable by the computer system 900, ormight take the form of source or installable code. The source orinstallable code, upon compilation, installation, or both compilationand installation, on the computer system 900 might take the form ofexecutable code. Compilation or installation might be performed usingany of a variety of generally available compilers, installationprograms, compression/decompression utilities, or the like.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware—such as programmable logic controllers,field-programmable gate arrays, application-specific integratedcircuits, or the like—might also be used. In some cases, particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system, such as the computer system 900, to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. According to a setof embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods might beperformed by the computer system 900 in response to processor 910executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions. The one ormore instructions might be incorporated into the operating system 940 orother code that may be contained in the working memory 935, such as anapplication program 945. Such instructions may be read into the workingmemory 935 from another computer readable medium, such as one or more ofthe storage devices 925. Merely by way of example, execution of thesequences of instructions contained in the working memory 935 mightcause the one or more processors 910 to perform one or more proceduresof the methods described herein.

The terms “machine readable medium” and “computer readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 900, various computer readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions or code to the one ormore processors 910 for execution, might be used to store and/or carrysuch instructions/code such as signals, or both. In manyimplementations, a computer readable medium is a non-transitory,physical, or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take many forms,including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, andtransmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, opticaldisks, magnetic disks, or both, such as the storage devices 925.Volatile media includes, without limitation, dynamic memory, such as theworking memory 935. Transmission media includes, without limitation,coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise the bus 905, as well as the various components of thecommunication subsystem 930, or the media by which the communicationssubsystem 930 provides communication with other devices. Hence,transmission media can also take the form of waves, including withoutlimitation radio, acoustic, or light waves, such as those generatedduring radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

Common forms of physical or tangible computer readable media include,for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, magnetic tape,or any other magnetic medium; a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or any other opticalmedium; punch cards, paper tape, or any other physical medium withpatterns of holes; a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, or any othermemory chip or cartridge; a carrier wave; or any other medium from whicha computer can read instructions or code.

As noted above, a set of embodiments comprises methods and systems forcertifying software applications with a green applications efficiency(“GAE”) rating or methods and systems for implementing green softwareapplications. FIG. 10 illustrates a schematic diagram of a system 1000that can be used in accordance with one set of embodiments. The system1000 can include one or more user computers or user devices 1005. A usercomputer or user device 1005 can be a general purpose personal computer(including, merely by way of example, desktop computers, tabletcomputers, laptop computers, handheld computers, and the like, runningany appropriate operating system, several of which are available fromvendors such as Apple, Microsoft Corp., and the like) and/or aworkstation computer running any of a variety of commercially-availableUNIX™ or UNIX-like operating systems. A user computer or user device1005 can also have any of a variety of applications, including one ormore applications configured to perform methods provided by variousembodiments (as described above, for example), as well as one or moreoffice applications, database client and/or server applications, and/orweb browser applications. Alternatively, a user computer or user device1005 can be any other electronic device, such as a thin-client computer,Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or personal digital assistant,capable of communicating via a network (e.g., the network 1010 describedbelow) and/or of displaying and navigating web pages or other types ofelectronic documents. Although the exemplary system 1000 is shown withthree user computers or user devices 1005, any number of user computersor user devices can be supported.

Certain embodiments operate in a networked environment, which caninclude a network 1010. The network 1010 can be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-available (and/orfree or proprietary) protocols, including without limitation TCP/IP,SNA™, IPX™, AppleTalk™, and the like. Merely by way of example, thenetwork 1010 can include a local area network (“LAN”), including withoutlimitation a fiber network, an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring™ networkand/or the like; a wide-area network (“WAN”); a wireless wide areanetwork (“WWAN”); a virtual network, such as a virtual private network(“VPN”); the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switchedtelephone network (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network,including without limitation a network operating under any of the IEEE802.11 suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art,and/or any other wireless protocol; and/or any combination of theseand/or other networks. In a particular embodiment, the network mightinclude an access network of the service provider (e.g., an Internetservice provider (“ISP”)). In another embodiment, the network mightinclude a core network of the service provider, and/or the Internet.

Embodiments can also include one or more server computers 1015. Each ofthe server computers 1015 may be configured with an operating system,including without limitation any of those discussed above, as well asany commercially (or freely) available server operating systems. Each ofthe servers 1015 may also be running one or more applications, which canbe configured to provide services to one or more clients 1005 and/orother servers 1015.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 1015 might be a dataserver, as described above. The data server might include (or be incommunication with) a web server, which can be used, merely by way ofexample, to process requests for web pages or other electronic documentsfrom user computers 1005. The web server can also run a variety ofserver applications, including HTTP servers, FTP servers, CGI servers,database servers, Java servers, and the like. In some embodiments of theinvention, the web server may be configured to serve web pages that canbe operated within a web browser on one or more of the user computers1005 to perform methods of the invention.

The server computers 1015, in some embodiments, might include one ormore application servers, which can be configured with one or moreapplications accessible by a client running on one or more of the clientcomputers 1005 and/or other servers 1015. Merely by way of example, theserver(s) 1015 can be one or more general purpose computers capable ofexecuting programs or scripts in response to the user computers 1005and/or other servers 1015, including without limitation web applications(which might, in some cases, be configured to perform methods providedby various embodiments). Merely by way of example, a web application canbe implemented as one or more scripts or programs written in anysuitable programming language, such as Java™, C, C#™ or C++, and/or anyscripting language, such as Perl, Python, or TCL, as well ascombinations of any programming and/or scripting languages. Theapplication server(s) can also include database servers, includingwithout limitation those commercially available from Oracle™,Microsoft™, Sybase™, IBM™ and the like, which can process requests fromclients (including, depending on the configuration, dedicated databaseclients, API clients, web browsers, etc.) running on a user computer oruser device 1005 and/or another server 1015. In some embodiments, anapplication server can perform one or more of the processes forcertifying software applications with a green applications efficiency(“GAE”) rating, one or more processes for implementing green softwareapplications, or the like, as described in detail above. Data providedby an application server may be formatted as one or more web pages(comprising HTML, JavaScript, etc., for example) and/or may be forwardedto a user computer 1005 via a web server (as described above, forexample). Similarly, a web server might receive web page requests and/orinput data from a user computer 1005 and/or forward the web pagerequests and/or input data to an application server. In some cases a webserver may be integrated with an application server.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 1015 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementvarious disclosed methods, incorporated by an application running on auser computer 1005 and/or another server 1015. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer or user device 1005 and/or server 1015.

It should be noted that the functions described with respect to variousservers herein (e.g., application server, database server, web server,file server, etc.) can be performed by a single server and/or aplurality of specialized servers, depending on implementation-specificneeds and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases1020. The location of the database(s) 1020 is discretionary: merely byway of example, a database 1020 a might reside on a storage medium localto (and/or resident in) a server 1015 a (and/or a user computer or userdevice 1005). Alternatively, a database 1020 b can be remote from any orall of the computers 1005, 1015, so long as it can be in communication(e.g., via the network 1010) with one or more of these. In a particularset of embodiments, a database 1020 can reside in a storage-area network(“SAN”) familiar to those skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessaryfiles for performing the functions attributed to the computers 1005,1015 can be stored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely,as appropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 1020 can be arelational database, such as an Oracle database, that is adapted tostore, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.The database might be controlled and/or maintained by a database server,as described above, for example.

While certain features and aspects have been described with respect toexemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize thatnumerous modifications are possible. For example, the methods andprocesses described herein may be implemented using hardware components,software components, and/or any combination thereof. Further, whilevarious methods and processes described herein may be described withrespect to particular structural and/or functional components for easeof description, methods provided by various embodiments are not limitedto any particular structural and/or functional architecture but insteadcan be implemented on any suitable hardware, firmware and/or softwareconfiguration. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed tocertain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, thisfunctionality can be distributed among various other system componentsin accordance with the several embodiments.

Moreover, while the procedures of the methods and processes describedherein are described in a particular order for ease of description,unless the context dictates otherwise, various procedures may bereordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with various embodiments.Moreover, the procedures described with respect to one method or processmay be incorporated within other described methods or processes;likewise, system components described according to a particularstructural architecture and/or with respect to one system may beorganized in alternative structural architectures and/or incorporatedwithin other described systems. Hence, while various embodiments aredescribed with—or without—certain features for ease of description andto illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the variouscomponents and/or features described herein with respect to a particularembodiment can be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among otherdescribed embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise.Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are describedabove, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to coverall modifications and equivalents within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for implementing green softwareapplications, the method comprising: performing, with a computer, one ormore performance tests of a software application; evaluating, with thecomputer, a performance of the software application during the one ormore performance tests; measuring, with the computer, power consumptionof one or more hardware components, in response to execution of thesoftware application during the one or more performance tests;generating, with the computer, a power consumption profile for thesoftware application, based on the measured power consumption; andtuning the software application, such that power consumption of the oneor more hardware components matches a power load caused by execution ofthe software application, based at least in part on the powerconsumption profile for the software application.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein tuning the software application comprises tuning the softwareapplication to quickly release resources when the resources are nolonger determined to be required.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereintuning the software application comprises tuning the softwareapplication to contain efficient computational logic.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein tuning the software application comprises tuning thesoftware application to minimize or eliminate at least one of large orlong-lived objects in memory.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein tuningthe software application comprises tuning the software application tominimize storage of large amounts of data.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein tuning the software application comprises tuning the softwareapplication to reduce heavy data transfer over a network.
 7. The methodof claim 1, wherein tuning the software application comprises tuning thesoftware application to closely match hardware and softwarecharacteristics.
 8. A system for implementing green softwareapplications, the system comprising: a processor; and a non-transitorycomputer readable medium having encoded thereon instructions executableby the processor to: perform one or more performance tests of a softwareapplication; evaluate a performance of the software application duringthe one or more performance tests; measure power consumption of one ormore hardware components, in response to execution of the softwareapplication during the one or more performance tests; generate a powerconsumption profile for the software application, based on the measuredpower consumption; and tune the software application, such that powerconsumption of the one or more hardware components matches a power loadcaused by execution of the software application, based at least in parton the power consumption profile for the software application.
 9. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein tuning the software application comprisestuning the software application to quickly release resources when theresources are no longer determined to be required.
 10. The system ofclaim 8, wherein tuning the software application comprises tuning thesoftware application to contain efficient computational logic.
 11. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein tuning the software application comprisestuning the software application to minimize or eliminate at least one oflarge or long-lived objects in memory.
 12. The system of claim 8,wherein tuning the software application comprises tuning the softwareapplication to minimize storage of large amounts of data.
 13. The systemof claim 8, wherein tuning the software application comprises tuning thesoftware application to reduce heavy data transfer over a network. 14.The system of claim 8, wherein tuning the software application comprisestuning the software application to closely match hardware and softwarecharacteristics.
 15. An apparatus, comprising: a non-transitory computerreadable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executableby a computer to: perform one or more performance tests of a softwareapplication; evaluate a performance of the software application duringthe one or more performance tests; measure power consumption of one ormore hardware components, in response to execution of the softwareapplication during the one or more performance tests; generate a powerconsumption profile for the software application, based on the measuredpower consumption; and tune the software application, such that powerconsumption of the one or more hardware components matches a power loadcaused by execution of the software application, based at least in parton the power consumption profile for the software application.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 15, wherein tuning the software application comprisestuning the software application to quickly release resources when theresources are no longer determined to be required.
 17. The apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein tuning the software application comprises tuning thesoftware application to contain efficient computational logic.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 15, wherein tuning the software application comprisestuning the software application to minimize or eliminate at least one oflarge or long-lived objects in memory.
 19. The apparatus of claim 15,wherein tuning the software application comprises tuning the softwareapplication to minimize storage of large amounts of data.
 20. Theapparatus of claim 15, wherein tuning the software application comprisestuning the software application to reduce heavy data transfer over anetwork.
 21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein tuning the softwareapplication comprises tuning the software application to closely matchhardware and software characteristics.